Amongst the many, many former players gracing The Plenary with their presence at Carlton’s 150^th celebratory dinner last Saturday night was John Lloyd, a member of those early Carlton teams under Ron Barassi’s watch.

Lloyd deemed it a privilege to be there to renew acquaintance with old Princes Park contemporaries, “Barass” included.

“I’ve seen Adrian Gallagher, Barry Gill, John Gill and Jimmy Pleydell, and I’ve been doing the rounds trying to get to a few more,” he said towards the end of proceedings.

“But there’s so many in the house that I can’t get to them all unfortunately.”

It’s almost 50 years since Lloyd first forged links with Carlton as a senior player mentored by the great Ronald Dale. “They were terrific days,” Lloyd recalled. “Barassi recruited me to Carlton in ’65 and it was a really good time. There was so much change with him coming to the club as playing coach, and it was really exciting.”

It was in the fourth round of 1965, against North Melbourne at Princes Park, that Lloyd emerged from the dugout and took his place on the field for the first time. Carlton thumped North by 63 points in that one, with Jim “Frosty” Miller booting five goals for Carlton and Terry Board was adjudged best afield.

Wearing the No.18, and plying his playing craft as a defender, Lloyd’s senior career would span three seasons and 29 matches – the last of them the 1967 second semi-final against Richmond, the match in which Richmond ruckman Neville Crowe was found guilty of striking John Nicholls and duly suspended, thereby depriving him of his place in the Tigers victorious ’67 Grand Final team.

At the time, Lloyd’s 29 senior games for Carlton would have been more than enough to ensure son Matthew - who later gained some fame in the No.18 for a rival club who shall remain nameless – also donned the dark Navy Blue guernsey.

Regrettably the club fell foul of the red (and black) tape.

John Lloyd on the training track in the mid 1960s. (Photo: Carlton Football Club)

“Earlier in the piece, 20 games was the number required, and I had 29 to my name,” Lloyd recalled. “Carlton had talked about drafting Matt under the father-son rule but he was only 13 or 14 at that stage and by the time he was due to be drafted the rule was changed from 20 to 50 games – and that was it.”

Now closing in on his 70^th birthday, John doesn’t get to too many Carlton games thesedays . . . “but I do follow them from afar”.